A Complete Unknown

 A Complete Unknown

By Lou Pastina

I have always been a Dylan fan, in fact my mom had the “Free Wheelin’” album, and I remember her playing it constantly as a kid. My mom wasn’t a beatnik or a hippie, but she had albums by Dylan, Fats Domino, Fats Waller, Peter, Paul & Mary and plenty of other great musicians. Those songs permeated my childhood. The words seeped into my imagination and helped form my moral compass. As the years passed, eventually a guitar found its way into my hands, and naturally Dylan songs were on the menu. Many of his songs are only three chords which makes them very accessible to a new musician.

Over the years, I collected books about Dylan and his songs, got into the Band, his backing band for many years, and finally got to see him with another favorite band, the Grateful Dead. Together, their shows were not that great, but I got to see them, and him. So, it was natural that I would go see the movie about him, “A Complete Unknown.” If you know anything about Dylan, then you know he is exactly that, unknowable. He has changed styles and religions over the years, been combative and reclusive when it came to the press, and frankly I am not sure we will ever know the real Bob Dylan. The movie, which has yet to gross $100 million dollars in an age of Marvel movies frequently grossing over $1 billion, does a great job painting a picture of his early years leading up to the Newport Folk Festival, where he turned the folk community on its ear by playing electric with the great Paul Butterfield and Al Kooper. It starts with him coming to New York to find his idol, Woody Guthrie, who at the time was suffering from Huntington’s Disease. He befriends Pete Seger and Joan Baez, and a host of other folk musicians in and around Greenwich Village. The times are filled with hope and fear, as the Kennedy presidency is just beginning and war with Russia over Cuba is a real possibility. His writings capture the spirit of the time like no other.

The movie is excellently acted, the scenes, shot in Jersey City, depict the Greenwich Village from the early 1960s, and the music is terrific. I read that Dylan approved of his portrayal and the music. Timothee Chalamet channels Dylan’s mannerisms, and his eccentricities perfectly. The movie brought back memories of my mom, the hope of that generation, and what it feels like to be young, and trying to find your path in the world. It’s a very different perspective than when you are at the other end of the spectrum looking back at youth. I have to admit there were tears in my eyes more than once, and for more than one reason.

I saw the movie at the Ipic Theater at the South Street Seaport. I have been dying to go there for a long time but never found the time or reason to do so. A friend had recently told me that he took the ferry in and brought the whole family to see the movie. So, I thought I would try that, only I went by myself. I highly recommend this theater. The seating is first class, they serve food and drinks right to your chair and it’s as easy as a ferry ride in and back. I definitely plan on returning.

Of course, me being me, I decided to walk around downtown a bit. I walked up Fulton Street to Broadway and was amazed how many new buildings were up around that side of town. There is a huge, new Marriott hotel, several other towers that I never noticed as well. I thought to myself, that New York never stays the same, it just keeps morphing into something else. I guess that’s what Dylan does too. What an amazing place to live and call home. I was happy to return on the afternoon ferry, with the winter sun beginning its descent over the icy Atlantic Ocean, bouncing up and down around Coney Island toward Rockaway, back to that place we call home.

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